In this afternoon’s finals of the 2015 European junior individual event team Denmark as a group excelled by lifting four of the five titles and came within one set of a Danish clean sweep. The Danish ‘bouncebackability’ in the individual after the disappointment of the team event has been a remarkable turnaround with a new generation of players ready to take on the senior world of badminton.

In Anders Antonsen (pictured) the Danes have a real star in the making and the young Danes performance in today’s final was reminiscent of a senior player not a junior still a few weeks shy of his 18th birthday.

Antonsen got out of the blocks quickly taking the opening set against the top seed Max Weisskirchen before the German hit back by taking the second game to send the match into a deciding set. After exchanging early blows in the final game Antonsen slipped into overdrive and only lost three points after the interval and fell to his knees to take the European crown with a final game 21-9 win.

“I knew today’s match would be tough against Max. I had to really believe in my game plan after losing the second game and now to be European champion is still hard to actually take in” said the happy Dane after his victory.

Mia Blichfeldt came to Poland and did what everyone expected her to do, lift the title as the best junior in European badminton. Blichfeldt had a slow start to her campaign in Poland but as each day passed the Dane got stronger and with it more confident. If her semi-final win was close to perfection her final victory over Julie Dawall Jakobsen reaffirmed Blichfeldt as the outstanding junior in European badminton. Blichfeldt took just half an hour to beat her compatriot Jakobsen in two games and was duly excited in her post match interview.

“You know I woke up this morning so nervous and I had to take myself away and listen to some music to try and control the nerves. But I am lucky my game was with me today in the final and to be European champion is a dream come true”

Jakobsen & Weisskirchen avenge singles defeats

After suffering defeats in both the women’s and men’s singles both Julie Dawall Jakobsen (Den) and Max Weisskirchen (GER) got to taste victory in both their women’s and mixed doubles respectively.

Jakobsen teamed up with Ditte Soeby Hansen to win the women’s doubles in a closely contested final against Anne Tran and Verlaine Faulmann of France while Weisskirchen partnered Eva Janssens to lift the mixed doubles title to deny Denmark a clean sweep of all five titles.

“It is special to come back on court and get the winning feeling after losing the singles to Mia earlier” said Jakobsen. “We have had a great tournament here in Poland in an amazing hall with an amazing set up. I just told myself one more match, we can do it and now we are champions”

Eipe & Bond reverse seeding to lift men’s doubles title

In the longest match of the day it took Joel Eipe & Alexandre Bond almost an hour to see off the challenge of English top seeds Lane and Vendy. The Danes looked on course to lift the title in two sets after winning the opening game 21-15 and having three match points on three separate occasions in the second. The English managed to keep their nerve to eventually win the second set 24-22 to take the men’s doubles into a deciding set.

But it was not to be for the gutsy English as Eipe & Bond seized the initiative from the outset and raced into 11-6 lead before eventually seeing the match through with a 21-16 victory to claim the title as European junior men’s doubles champions.

“This was always going to be a tough match as Ben & Sean are top quality players.” said Eipe. “We know their style and we knew that we could not get into any unnecessary confrontations on the court and just keep our discipline”

“We got a great start in the third game which they did not manage to recover from so not it is time to relax and celebrate and get on the phone home to talk to our parents and family” said Bond after the victory.

These European championships were the best that has ever been with so many firsts for Badminton Europe thanks to the willingness and expertise of the organisers in Lubin, Poland. A world class arena with world class facilities and set up brought out the very best from Europe’s best juniors.

Badminton Europe will return to Lubin next year for the European U17 Championships.

To revisit all the action on demand from today’s finals go to Badminton Europe’s YouTube channel by clicking HERE

For a photo gallery of the podium presentation follows Badminton Europe on Facebook by clicking HERE

For all results from the finals of the 2015 European junior individual event click HERE.